Election 2012

Steamboat Springs  Both candidates seeking to win a seat in the Colorado legislature representing the newly created House District 26 are detail oriented, have put thousands of miles on their personal vehicles while campaigning and are from Steamboat Springs. And that raises the question about how well Diane Mitsch Bush and Chuck McConnell are coming across in Eagle County, the only other county besides Routt in HD 26.

As an example, McConnell cited a recent bill that passed the state House but failed in the state Senate after being opposed, he said, by Front Range interests.

The new bill would have allowed coal mines to capture harmful methane gas and use it to generate electricity, rather than releasing it into the atmosphere, McConnell said.

Mitsch Bush, a Routt County commissioner, told the Vail Daily that she competed in the 1994 World Mountain Bike Championships, which were held in Vail. She said she is the better choice to negotiate with Republican and Front Range colleagues in the state legislature.